The present invention relates generally to the selection and placement of orders for items and pertains, more specifically, to an order selection debit card and method enabling the advance selection of items to be ordered from a particular provider of items.
The proliferation of vendors of goods and services at shopping malls, at shopping districts and at frontages along roadways frequented by more and more purchasers has led to congestion and concomitant delays in making purchases at these various shopping facilities. Thus, customers often encounter long lines at stores and restaurants located at such venues. In particular, patrons at restaurants, and especially at fast-food outlets, can become vexed as a result of delays occasioned by the many purchasers waiting to place orders and make payment for completed orders.
The present invention provides an order selection debit card and method enabling an order for selected items to be specified and even paid for in advance, remote from the premises of the provider of the items, to facilitate delivery of the completed order at the provider""s facility, thereby eliminating the greatest sources of delay. As such, the present invention attains several objects and advantages, some of which are summarized as follows: Enables the selection of items for purchase from a particular provider, and payment for the selected items, in advance of arriving at the point of purchase so as to avoid delays ordinarily encountered in making the selections and payment at the point of purchase; facilitates the selection of items in an order, and payment for the order, for attaining exceptional convenience, particularly in the placement of orders from a menu of items offered by restaurants and fast-food outlets, and in effecting payment for the order; eliminates the greatest source of delay at various provider sites; encourages purchases from vendors who offer the convenience of advanced selection of items in an order, and advanced payment for the order; allows increased sales volumes at existing facilities without a concomitant increase in delays and without requiring substantial modification of the existing facility; eases congestion at frequented sales outlets for greater sales appeal at these outlets; facilitates the handling of orders and sales, as well as record-keeping procedures associated with such orders and sales, to the benefit of both the patron and the vendor.
The above objects and advantages, as well as further objects and advantages, are attained by the present invention which may described briefly as an order selection debit card for placing an order compiled from selections available at the order selection debit card for subsequent filling of the order at a provider site placed at a remote location, the order selection debit card comprising: a card body having an obverse face; a display arrangement on the obverse face, the display arrangement including a selection display corresponding to a plurality of items available for selection and a plurality of quantities of each item available for selection; a selector on the card body for choosing selected items and quantities from the available items and quantities; a value memory in the card body for storing information pertaining to a given value available in the card; a compiler in the card body for compiling a compiled order in response to the selector, in accordance with the selected items and quantities; an order information transfer device in the card body for transferring order information pertaining to the compiled order from the card body to the provider site; a calculator in the card body for determining a compiled value of the compiled order based upon the selected items and quantities; and a comparator in the card body for comparing the compiled value to the given value available in the card to determine if the given value is sufficient to meet the compiled value for release of the compiled order to the order information transfer device and, upon placement of the compiled order, to deduct the compiled value from the given value and establish in the value memory a current given value available in the card subsequent to placement of the compiled order.
In addition, the invention includes a method for placing an order compiled from selections available at an order selection debit card for subsequent filling of the order at a provider site placed at a remote location, the method comprising: providing a display arrangement on the card, the display arrangement including a selection display corresponding to a plurality of items available for selection and a plurality of quantities of each item available for selection; selecting items and quantities from the available items and quantities; storing information pertaining to a given value available in the card in a value memory in the card; compiling in the card a compiled order in response to the selection of items and quantities, in accordance with the selected items and quantities; determining a compiled value of the compiled order based upon the selected items and quantities; comparing the compiled value to the given value available in the card to determine if the given value is sufficient to meet the compiled value for release of the compiled order and transfer of order information pertaining to the compiled order from the card to the provider site; and deducting the compiled value from the given value to establish in the value memory a current given value available in the card subsequent to placement of the compiled order.